After emergency surgery, Mark Bonis begins his second chance

NEW ORLEANS – One heartbeat.

For several years, Brother Martin head football coach Mark Bonis has preached that message to his Crusaders, even fashioning shirts that said “One.”

When it comes to sports like football, there are no second chances. One loss in the postseason, and the season is over.

When it comes to life on earth, there are no second chances, just one life to live before that existence is over.

For a few days in December, Bonis was hanging on to the slim, even grim prospect of registering one heartbeat, clinging to the sanctity of life.

Bonis underwent emergency coronary artery surgery to repair a ruptured abdominal aorta in early December, less than a week after his team lost a 37-27 LHSAA Division I semifinal game to Archbishop Rummel at Joe Yenni Stadium.

It has been a true challenge for the Bonis family over the past two years.

With 7-year-old twin daughters Blake and Brynn already in the fold, Rebecca Bonis gave birth to Marc 19 months ago.

Unfortunately, Marc was born with an omphalocele, a very rare birth defect in which the intestines and/or other organs are situated outside of the body due to a hole in the navel area.

As Marc fought for his life, Mark and Rebecca fought to preserve their son’s life with personal care and the best medical care possible, even enlisting the help of their daughters.

In the process, the youngest Bonis earned the moniker “Mighty Marc.”

It turns out that the infant was as tough as nails, fighting for every breath of existence, with the determination of a lineman trying to move the defender lined up across from him. Every inch mattered.

“Mighty Marc” had the lineman mentality of his father, a former lineman in his high school days at Jesuit. The apple, bearing the same name (different spelling) did not fall far from the tree.

“Marc is so tough,” Bonis said last year. “He is an inspiration to us. Seeing him smile has been such a blessing to us.”

Almost miraculously, “Mighty Marc” is alive and well and ready to head north to Boston Children’s Hospital in early March for special treatment for his unusual condition which may require additional surgery or the insertion of a trach tube.

Rebecca will accompany her son to Boston while Mark will join then on weekends. The long, difficult journey continues and will for quite some time but you get the distinct feeling that the Bonis family will persevere and prevail over the afflictions they continue to battle.

As the young Bonis family member displayed courage and toughness, the Bonis parents had to do the same under adverse circumstances.

Then came the sobering attack on the elder Bonis.

The chances for survival were slim. The situation was grim.

Almost miraculously, Mark proved mighty as well, overcoming what is a fatal condition for many to survive. Bonis is alive. He is ready to thrive, given a new pen to author the unpenned novel of the new chapter of a book that was nearly closed.

“Without a doubt,” Bonis said Thursday – part of an in-depth, wide-ranging conversation with Crescent City Sports – on whether he’s been given a second chance. “I’m very, very thankful.”

Immediately after surgery and early in recovery, there was real doubt as to whether Bonis would ever coach again. Barring any further complications, perish that thought. Bonis will be on the sideline when Brother Martin takes the field again in the spring.

Once again, a male member of the Bonis family overcame the odds.

There are many heroes in a story with a happy ending, including the surgeons who performed the emergency procedure to save Bonis’ life. There are Brynn and Blake, who have helped spiritually and physically with the restoration of their brother and father.

Then, there is Marc’s nurse, Lizzie Mercier, for whom Bonis is eternally grateful.

Finally, there is Rebecca, a loving wife and the caring mother of Mighty Marc, Brynn and Blake.

“Through the whole process,” said a choked-up Bonis, “she has been a rock star.”

Not even two months after the emergency procedure, Bonis is back in his office on Elysian Fields Avenue, at least for a few hours a day, trying to re-establish some normalcy in what has been the antithesis of a normal, regular lifestyle over the past two years.

When Bonis returned to his office last week, it was if time had frozen since the first week of December.

Game plans from the loss to Rummel were still on the desk. Changes of clothes from school attire to practice were draped on a chair.

Considering what happened on the Tuesday following the game, Bonis can be glad his team came up short on that Friday night at Joe Yenni Stadium, since it almost certainly saved his life.

“That’ll probably be the only time I’ve ever said that,” Bonis said. “If Brother Martin would have won that game against Rummel, they would have told you exactly what I know – I would not have gone to see the doctor because preparing for the state championship game would have been, at that time, the most important thing, thinking it was just lower back pain.”

The result of pushing forward, forging ahead, would have virtually certainly resulted in a different outcome. Fate intervened. The Crusaders lost and Bonis and his family won.

The end result is that the Crusader family has emerged victorious as well, with its outstanding coach and superb person and representative of the school and its fine football program intact.

“I’ve learned my lesson,” Bonis said. “I will be a little bit more aware. If there’s anything that can come out of this … do the things you need to do in order to take care of your body.”

The heartbeat of the Bonis family and Crusader family beats as one. It is a close knit, loving family, the totality of a family drawn even closer together by the reality of a physical abnormality nearly proving fatal, a reminder of the mortality with which we will all be confronted.